The US Treasury moved on Friday, 6 November, to cut crypto exchange MEXC Global off the American financial system. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued the order under Operation Economic Outcast and called the Seychelles-incorporated exchange a primary money laundering concern. Treasury's release says MEXC facilitated at least $16 billion in illicit transactions from May 2021 to May 2026, tied to Iranian, North Korean, and Russian sanctions evasion and to cybercrime. The policy desk has the running regulation file.
What FinCEN says the exchange processed
Treasury said MEXC was founded in 2018 and, as of September 2026, processed more than $1 billion in daily transactions, held about $5 billion in reserves, and ranked among the world's 20 largest crypto exchanges. The platform lists more than 3,000 tokens. The department said the exchange claims to bar users in Iran and North Korea and to keep anti-money-laundering controls, and that those controls had "severe deficiencies."
The $16 billion figure breaks into named slices. Nearly $1.5 billion was linked to Russian sanctions evasion, including $232 million in direct transactions with US, EU, and UK sanctioned entities. Treasury said MEXC was still processing transactions with sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex and its successor Grinex as recently as June 2026, more than four years after Garantex was designated in April 2022. The release also cites at least $26 million benefiting the sanctioned A7 network and almost $200 million connected to the A7A5 stablecoin. On Iran, FinCEN said MEXC sent or received about $1 billion with more than 40 identified Iranian crypto exchangers, and about $22 million tied to the Central Bank of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Qods Force.
The order, and MEXC's reply
The order bars US financial institutions from processing funds transfers to or from MEXC Global. Decrypt reported that it takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. Secretary Scott Bessent said financial institutions "cannot have it both ways" on the Iranian regime and access to the US system, and that Treasury would keep targeting digital-asset routes around sanctions. Reuters noted a separate same-day action against eight Canadian money-services firms over alleged Iran-linked transactions. That action is distinct from the MEXC order.
MEXC's statement says the exchange is aware of the order, is reviewing it with counsel, and is operating normally, with user assets secure. It said it will engage with FinCEN and has started an independent review of its AML and sanctions controls. The statement does not contest the dollar figures line by line. For US banks and for any venue that settles dollars through them, the practical question is the 30-day clock, not the weekend price of bitcoin. The FBI's TraderTraitor note is the other sanctions thread still open this month.